Francophone communities outside of Quebec. (yard, place, drive)

[jambo101]

I'm sure Wikipedia will give you more info. an excerpt =

Benoit was born in Montreal, Quebec, to Michael and Margaret Benoit, but grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, from which he was billed in ring introductions throughout the bulk of his career. Benoit spoke both English and French fluently.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by jambo101

I'm sure Wikipedia will give you more info. an excerpt =

Pretty much everyone under 40 or 50 who was born and raised in Montreal will know how to speak French these days.

Add to that a French surname like Benoît and you've also got a historical family link to French so that would almost certainly seal the deal.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

There's a community about 15 miles from me called "Benoit", but we don't pronounce it like they do in Canada.

[Acajack]

Maine-born marathon runner Joan Benoit, who is partly of French Canadian origin, says it "bunn-oyt".

So does the basketball player Benoit Benjamin, who is not of French Canadian origin I suppose.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by UrbanLuis

Number of people with French as their first language.
(...)

Just thought I'd point something out: first language (mother tongue) is not the same as language spoken most often at home -- 2011 numbers:

Province // first language // most spoken at home

NL // 2,480 // 1,440
PEI // 5,190 // 2,770
NS // 31,105 // 18,050
NB // 233,530 // 216,440
QC // 6,102,210 // 6,450,375
ON // 493,295 // 340,290
MB // 42,085 // 21,560
SK // 16,280 // 5,545
AB // 68,545 // 32,390
BC // 57,280 // 24,445
YT // 1,455 // 940
NWT // 1,075 // 610
NVT // 435 // 260
Total // 7,054,970 // 7,115,100
Total except QC and NB // 719,230 // 448,285
Total except QC, NB and ON // 225,935 // 107,995

(Source: Statcan 2011 census... I include every answer with "French" in it for most spoken at home i.e. "English and French", "French + other" and "French, English + other" are in the numbers)

To answer Mouldy Old Schmo's question about assimilation, unless there is some critical mass of French speakers (we could split Ottawa region + Northern Ontario as well), French speakers are assimilating fairly quickly.

[Natnasci]

French speakers I know in Vancouver are from Quebec, New Brunswick and northern Ontario.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Maine-born marathon runner Joan Benoit, who is partly of French Canadian origin, says it "bunn-oyt".

So does the basketball player Benoit Benjamin, who is not of French Canadian origin I suppose.

My uncle had a very French name. He moved to the US in the 1950's for music and movie work. Every time I visited I cringed when they said his name. The first time I heard it said the American way he was being introduced as part of a band. I didn't even recognize it as his name right away.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by barneyg

Just thought I'd point something out: first language (mother tongue) is not the same as language spoken most often at home -- 2011 numbers:

Province // first language // most spoken at home

NL // 2,480 // 1,440
PEI // 5,190 // 2,770
NS // 31,105 // 18,050
NB // 233,530 // 216,440
QC // 6,102,210 // 6,450,375
ON // 493,295 // 340,290
MB // 42,085 // 21,560
SK // 16,280 // 5,545
AB // 68,545 // 32,390
BC // 57,280 // 24,445
YT // 1,455 // 940
NWT // 1,075 // 610
NVT // 435 // 260
Total // 7,054,970 // 7,115,100
Total except QC and NB // 719,230 // 448,285
Total except QC, NB and ON // 225,935 // 107,995

(Source: Statcan 2011 census... I include every answer with "French" in it for most spoken at home i.e. "English and French", "French + other" and "French, English + other" are in the numbers)

To answer Mouldy Old Schmo's question about assimilation, unless there is some critical mass of French speakers (we could split Ottawa region + Northern Ontario as well), French speakers are assimilating fairly quickly.

Yes. Except for QC, NB and ON, the francophone population is basically "halved" (or worse) in every single province when you take this factor into account.

Note that while there is not a significant outmigration of francophones from Quebec, the francophone population of Quebec is so big (relatively) that even a trickle of people who move from there to the anglo provinces helps to "shore up" their small francophone populations. As the Québécois arrivals tend to be fairly solidly francophone linguistically and culturally, this helps replace at least some of the "assimilateds" that the communities lose with every passing generation. After several generations, the descendants of those Québécois tend to follow the same cues as the francophones of longer establishment, and many of their descendants get assimilated as well eventually.

[willg]

I've always understood that there were pockets of French speakers in Welland and Windsor. Anybody know the origins of those communities?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by willg

I've always understood that there were pockets of French speakers in Welland and Windsor. Anybody know the origins of those communities?

In Windsor, the origins of the francophone community go back to when the French built Fort Détroit around 1700. There was no border separating the two shores of the river at that time.

Détroit was one of the "posts" on the route between New France and the St Lawrence Valley and the French possessions in the middle of today's US and down the Mississippi towards St Louis and Louisiana.

Of course, the francophone community of Windsor was augmented over time by migrants from Quebec to work in various industries in the region.

In Welland the community is more recent but it's generally thought that many of its first members came to work on the construction of the Welland Canal in the early 1900s.